Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 367

"Take care not to perform righteous deeds
in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father."

No one should suppose the Pharisees knew nothing of hypocrisy before Jesus scolded them for it. It's a very normal form of human interaction: we say we're sorry when we don't mean it, and the matter is dropped. We often "CYA" when dealing with picayune matters that might entail lawsuits and endless trouble. We're learning to appear neither woke nor politically correct, while doing both. 

The Great Revelation of Jesus was not that some people or certain types of people act hypocritically. If some people seem never to come out of their act, if they are always in character although that character seems patently false, we need not spend our lives trying to penetrate their armor. Perhaps that's really who they are; perhaps they have been deeply wounded....

Perhaps it's none of my business, anyway. I was not sent to save anyone; I have been sent to be one witness of the truth.

In today's Gospel, the Lord speaks of loving God by prayer, fasting, and charitable works. And we can be assured that God sees through every pretense, and that He appreciates our efforts even when they are not done in absolute sincerity. 

• Do I do pray in private to prove something to myself? 
• Am I fasting to lose weight or for the love of God? 
• Do I perform these good works because I love God, or because I am afraid of disappointing some people?

Nevermind, do them anyway. We can let God sort that out in his own time. Revelation comes from God, including the revelation of myself. He shows us who we are, who we're sent to be, and how well we are doing.

As Saint Paul says, we're not supposed to judge ourselves. ("Stop judging me! I don't even judge myself!) We don't need to worry about the judgment of others, but there's no need to be rude or offensive either. 

Rank hypocrisy, like that we see in King Herod, wants to control others. Terrified of the loss of control, it would manage their behavior as well as their thoughts and attitudes. It would destroy anyone it cannot control. It would love only those it has conquered, on its way to their destruction. 

The disciples of Jesus live under a different regime. Our judge is God, our standard is truth, our hope is deliverance from all pretense. And we wait patiently for that day.